AMBITIOUS development plans by the University of Huddersfield have been dealt a blow.

Plans by the University's Student Union to move into new premises at the Great Hall have been shattered.

Tests carried out on the building have revealed that the concrete is crumbling. A multi-million pound revamp had to be halted when faults were discovered earlier this year.

And the Great Hall, built in the late 60s, now has to be demolished.

The students still have to move out of their current premises in Milton Hall in January as that building has already been allocated for theatre and media studies. They are at present based at the St Peter's Street building, formerly owned by the YMCA, but that building is up for sale.

The Student Union will be housed in temporary accommodation in the car park by the canal off Firth Street from January until September next year.

It is hoped that by then a new building will be completed in the St Joseph's Park area in the centre of the Queensgate campus, near the Central Services Building.

Student Union president Claire Lishman said that she had been told the problem with the concrete had not been foreseen.

"They did look at alternatives to see if they could keep the Great Hall but the only thing they could come up with was a big steel cage and that was turned down.

"So when the building is demolished that side of the campus will just be a grassed area.

"We are obviously disappointed because now we are going to have to be in temporary accommodation.

"The student union has 17,000 members and the capacity at Milton Hall is just 350 which is simply not big enough. That was why we were so excited about moving to the Great Hall because it meant we could have more than one event on at one time," she said.

University spokesman Phil Williams said: "There is no point in refurbishing the Great Hall.

"The short-term solution is to landscape the area. Longer term, we just don't know."